Over 10,000 Indonesians lose their jobs in Sritex collapse
Sritex, once Southeast Asia’s largest textile manufacturer, used to provide military uniforms for Nato and the German Army
Sri Rejeki Isman, or Sritex, stopped operations on Saturday and is in talks with potential investors to take over assets, the court-appointed administrator of the company said on Monday.
In its heyday, Sritex was a giant of Indonesian industry, churning out military uniforms for Nato and the German Army. But 10,965 of its workers have now been laid off, Deputy Manpower Minister Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan told local media.
“I have so many memories here, from meeting my soulmate to raising my children, who are now in school,” Sri Wiyani, a 20-year veteran of Sritex, told the Jakarta Globe. She took home a framed photograph of late founder Muhammad Lukminto as a keepsake on Friday, the final day of operations.
Thousands of employees gathered at the company’s facility in Sukoharjo that day to bid farewell to a factory that had employed more than 8,500 workers.
The collapse came after Sritex declared bankruptcy in October last year, with a creditors’ meeting at Semarang Commercial Court on Friday sealing the company’s fate. Its factories in Sukoharjo, Boyolali and Semarang closed in phases, leaving entire communities uncertain about their future.